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Chasing smackers, but not sex offenders

by McBlog • 27 September 2012 • Comments Off on Chasing smackers, but not sex offenders

Agency knew of carer’s sex crimeStuff.co.nz 28 Sep 2012
Two Palmerston North children were left in the care of a convicted child sex offender for more than a year before Child, Youth and Family responded to their mother’s pleas to intervene. The mother alerted CYF in June last year when she discovered two of her three children were being cared for by their paternal grandfather, who is a convicted child sex offender. The man served seven years in prison from 2002 for historical sex offences, including rape. His victims were his two stepdaughters, one of whom was aged only 9 when the offending began. CYF intervened last month, and has admitted it should have acted sooner. The woman said she repeatedly told CYF workers her children were being left in their grandfather’s care while her former partner, with whom she has a shared custody arrangement, worked night shifts. The children were not in CYF care, but the agency had been working with the family since March. CYF operations general manager Marama Edwards said the woman raised concerns with the agency about the grandfather’s past in June, 2011 and January this year. “In raising this she also stated, on more than one occasion, that she didn’t feel this person’s history was an issue.” A Palmerston North Maori Women’s Refuge staff member has confirmed the refuge had been advocating on behalf of the woman since February. “We have looked into the circumstances of this case and, at the time, we should have completed a more thorough assessment of the children’s care arrangements,” Ms Edwards said. “A full safety plan is now in place.”